


we made it through the year, it's so good to be here

by bookwormally



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Post-Canon, Vanitas Lives, its wayfinder winter holiday hours
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21654274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwormally/pseuds/bookwormally
Summary: After the keyblade war and defeat of Xehanort, Vanitas has found a home in the Land of Departure. The year is coming to an end and it's time to celebrate that they all made it through and are back together or together for the first time.Vanitas has never celebrated before. He's not sure what to make of the tree wrangling and plants hanging in doorways. Ventus can probably convince him it's a good thing.
Relationships: Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a holiday oneshot, but I had too many ideas to stick in so it'll have more than one chapter! I hope you enjoy!

They’ve drug in a huge tree and set it in the main hall. Aqua had to use a careful balance of aero and gravity spells to get it upright and then Terra stabilized it with a heavy base. They’re debating now in front of it, a coil of rope in Terra’s hands as Aqua gestures at the top of the tree.

“It can’t run away,” Vanitas mutters, watching from his perch on top of one of the pillars. “Tying it up doesn’t keep it from spontaneously growing legs or something.” He’s realized after a couple months here at the Land of Departure, that these _normal_ people are prone to incredibly strange rituals and actions, but this takes the cake. He cups his chin in his hand and tips his head as if a slightly different angle will give him an answer. Shockingly, it does not.

Terra and Aqua come to some sort of consensus below. Terra sets the rope aside as Aqua lifts a hand and sends an aero spell through the tree. It shivers and its branches shake, but it only sways a little. Needles fall from it in a fragrant cloud that even Vanitas can smell at the top of the room. Aqua dusts her hands off and gestures to the mess she’s made. Terra laughs and heads down the hall, probably for a broom.

About to shout down that maybe she should try cleaning up her own mess, Vanitas is stopped by the groan of the door opening in the entrance hall. It always echoes up to the main hall and Vanitas rolls his eyes. He scoots back a bit further into the shadows, so much harder to see from the ground. Sure enough, a minute later, Ventus appears at the top of the stairs.

Ventus shouts in excitement at the sight of the tree they’ve drug from its proper environment and runs over. He trots back and forth in front of it, ducking Aqua’s attempts to grab him. Vanitas can hear him chattering excitedly, too fast to be worth deciphering. It’s mindless gabble; he knows everything he needs to through their bond, Ventus’s excitement bubbling in his stomach and throat. (It’s easier to manage now, even when so much else is new and _isn’t_.)

Aqua finally gets a hand on him and tugs him into her, his back to her front, a hug. Her arms don’t drape as far around his shoulders as they used to and Vanitas has seen the way she holds on just a bit harder. _He wants to cling and claw, but he’s supposed to be letting the distance be easier._ Ven tips his head back, still talking, and she laughs. Vanitas leans forward at the hint of an actual response.

“Tonight after dinner maybe. It’s supposed to settle, you know.”

Ventus pouts. “That’s no fun. I was hoping to show Vanitas when he got back.”

His name said in a tone that’s not furious is still a shock that splashes over his skin. Vanitas shifts on his perch and then wraps his arms around his knee. He listens just a bit harder.

Aqua shrugs, no sign of tension in her. “You can show him when he’s here, but we’re not decorating it early. Things might fall as the branches settle or won’t look right. We’ll do the garlands and lights for the railings for certain today.”

“Yes!” Ven tugs himself from her hold and looks around again. “Do you have the boxes? Where’s Terra? I’ll get stuff and then track down Vanitas. He’s still in the castle somewhere.” (Ventus has been getting better at feeling him, just as he’s tried to put distance between them. _Why always too late?_ )

She chuckles at him. “He’s getting a broom for the needles. Don’t slip. Once the needles are up, we’ll get the rest of the decorations. You go find Vanitas before anything else.” Aqua flaps a hand at him. “I can tell you won’t focus on anything else until then.”

Ven sticks his tongue out at her. “It’s his first one, you know. And what’s better than this season?” He grins widely. “Back soon! Don’t start without us!” He kicks off the ground, using a perfectly placed spell to slide over the stones instead of walk. Aqua’s hands go to her hips and she shakes her head, good-natured always about Ventus.

Vanitas stays where he is. Ventus’s excitement is building as he races to check their bedrooms first. It blinds him to anything Vanitas might be feeling, leaving him no trail.

What is he feeling? It still sours into a mess at times, a tangled knot of things that twist around each other, all choking him. He ducks his head, covering his eyes and leaving him alone in the dark. He breathes in…and then back out. What is he feeling?

 _Ventus smiling, Ventus saying his name, Ventus wanting him included in whatever they’re doing now. It makes him feel something so warm that it burns, stabbing into his fingers._ He curls them into a fist and breathes through it. Sora’s voice from late one night always echoes in his thoughts. _‘Even good things can hurt sometimes. Does it make you feel better after the hard part? Do you want to feel it again?’_ Vanitas breathes and wants to find a spot where Ventus can find him. He _wants_ to be tugged into this decorating, to understand why they’ve dragged a whole tree into their home to let it ‘settle.’

Ha, it’s been a few months and he’s still not settled. Good luck to the tree.

Vanitas pushes his hands through his hair and straightens up. Okay, go find a likely spot to be discovered in. Play dumb and let Ventus teach him about…trees. He shakes his head and looks down. The hall is empty for the moment and he swings himself off the edge of the pillar. He puts a hand out, gravity dancing between his fingers, and slows himself to land softly on the ground. He tugs his long sleeves down and his gloves up, making sure he’s covered. Then he shoves both hands in his pockets and ambles away from the hall.

It won’t take Ventus long to find him, but Vanitas heads for the kitchen anyway. Maybe if whatever this is sucks, he can get out of it with the excuse of wanting something to eat. They all like his baking, even Terra. Aqua was even talking about more recipes as it got colder… Maybe he can find the book of them while she’s busy with the tree. There’s always an out, and anymore it feels like they’re just _fine_ with him leaving sometimes. Like it’s…normal.

He really doesn’t understand.

“Vanitas!” Ventus skids to a stop about ten feet away. It’s close enough to startle Vanitas, but not so close that he feels like he needs to defend himself. (So, he’s not the only one learning things.) Ventus bounds closer, clapping his hands together. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! You’ve gotta come with me right now.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Vanitas arches an eyebrow. “Why?”

Ventus rolls his eyes. “Because it’s a nice surprise. We’re decorating!”

“Decorating what? Why?”

“For the holiday!” Ventus throws his hands up and then reaches out and grabs Vanitas’s arm. “Come on, don’t be surly. You’ll like all the green stuff we use.”

That throws him for a loop and he doesn’t fight Ventus tugging him back toward the hall. “What does _that_ mean?”

Ventus looks over his shoulder at him. “You like plants?”

Vanitas goes red. “I don’t. They’re just plants.”

“I’ve seen you in the garden. You were talking with Terra about the bushes like two days ago over dinner! I’m not deaf.” Ventus wrinkles his nose at him, but the emotions playing off him are light, teasing. (Vanitas was still pretty sure that Ventus was fully focused on Aqua when he asked Terra about how best to trim the bushes back from some flowers that were just taking root. Damn his other half.) Ven grins brightly, triumphant in an argument they haven’t even started. “So, plants! We use a lot of evergreen stuff though most of it is fake. Oh, and the candles too, I wonder if Aqua remembered those…”

“I have no idea what you’re carrying on about,” Vanitas says flatly, very privately glad they’ve moved on from his interest in plants.

Ventus waves his free hand. “Never mind, you’ll see soon! Just wait until you see how big the tree is!” He starts to jog back down the hall and like a magnet finding its true north, Vanitas follows. Ventus keeps a hand on his arm, like he’s forgotten it’s there, but his grip tightens as they get to the main hall. “Wait!”

He swings around and frowns at Vanitas. (They’re still the exact same height, Vanitas’s shoulders only a tiny bit broader.) Ventus grabs Vanitas’s other hand and puts it over his eyes. “Ventus.”

“Trust me, it’s impressive this way.” Ven taps his hand and with a sigh, Vanitas leaves it over his eyes. For some reason, he doesn’t want to fess up that he’s already seen the tree. Ventus’s hand moves down his arm and takes his hand instead. “Okay, here we go!” There’s a tug to his hand that Vanitas feels every bit of pressure of and then they’re in the hall.

Ventus keeps going and Vanitas can smell the pine again. It gets stronger as they get closer and Vanitas is about ready to brace himself for Ventus to throw him right into it as a joke. But no, Ven comes to a stop, making sure Vanitas stops beside him. Vanitas shifts in place, but Ven’s hand is still wrapped around his. He swallows the fear of the unknown being able to come at him. “Okay,” Ven breathes. “Look up.”

He’s already seen the tree. He knows how big it is, how many branches it has and how they fill the space. Still, he’s not ready. Looking up at the tree from right in front of it, Vanitas feels small. It towers over them, pine heavy in the air. He could climb up it and disappear, so large does it feel from the ground. Vanitas swallows and his voice comes out quietly, “Wow.”

Ven nods beside him and his voice has dropped too. “I know. It changes the whole hall.” He leans forward and tugs on one of the branches, making it bounce. His emotions are deeper now, ones that Vanitas would have to search the depths to understand. “It’s a good reminder.”

“Reminder of what?”

“That no matter what, there are things in the universe greater than us. We’re lucky to help protect them.” Ven lets the branch go and turns to look at Vanitas. “It’s for the holiday. We celebrate the end of the year and all the good things in the Light that have lasted another year. And then we make set goals for the new year, usually training stuff.” Ven shrugs. “It’s nice. Lots of food and good memories.”

Good memories of the year. The dark ones rise up first: his master, the coat, the empty tearing feeling inside him. But they’re not the sum of his year. _Ventus holds a hand out, Sora pleads with him, and everything since…_ Vanitas scoffs, “So it’s just an excuse to eat and get fat, huh?”

Ventus punches him in the shoulder and lets go of his hand. “Ass!”

Vanitas curls his fingers into his palm and smirks at him. “You better eat an entire ham if you’re still trying to catch up with Terra. Oh wait, it would just put you back to sleep!” He twists, taking a step back and dodging Ventus’s next swing at the same time. He grabs Ven’s arm and twists, tossing him toward the tree. Ventus throws a hand behind him and with a blast of wind, crashes back into Vanitas so they collapse onto the floor.

“Ow,” Vanitas says flatly, head on the stone.

Ventus pinches his nose shut. “You started it.”

“You punched me first!” His voice comes out nasally and Vanitas starts tickling Ventus’s side. He tries to twist away, but can’t get far enough without letting go. He knees Vanitas in the gut and then rolls off. It’s not even what the two of them would call an argument anymore.

They’re still close enough to the tree that they can look up at it, towering above them. There’s the strange sense of it leaning forward, like it might collapse upon them. A few more needles fall from Ven’s rushed aero spell, but Vanitas makes no move to brush them off of him. It’s strangely solemn here on the ground beneath a giant. It reminds him of foggy pieces.

“There’s a world out there with trees like this. They’re all dark and tall. You could go from a clearing with the sunlight to a place that felt like night in just a few steps.” Vanitas closes his eyes and wishes he could hear the wind in the branches. “It was strange.”

Ven hums. “It sounds like Aurora’s world. The forests there were thick and then they had those big cliffs…” His voice trails off. Neither of them like cliffs. Ven forges on, forced cheer in his voice. “I wonder if they celebrate anything at the end of the year.”

_‘For all the light in the world, for all the light you’ve gathered, let’s have a wonderful feast!’ And the strings of lights are shaped like stars brought so close to the earth. The lights and the stars both shimmer in the waters of the central fountain, now ringed with stands of food and people._

“Most places probably do,” Vanitas says, pulling himself from useless dreams. “Just like birthdays.”

Ven rolls onto his side, propping his head up. “You still need to pick a day! Or at least admit that we can celebrate together. I told you I don’t care. You probably remember the day better than I do.” (When birthdays first came up, Vanitas immediately corrected their birth to the proper day and Ventus had simply nodded as if the world was back to normal. It was weird to not have a fight about it.)

“Meh. Not important.” Vanitas mimes a yawn. “So besides your big tree, what are we in here for?”

“Oh right, the decorations!” Ven hops to his feet and looks around. “Aqua must have gone to get them. We could go-.” He stops and then turns slightly, looking at Vanitas as he pushes himself back to his feet. “Hey, Vanitas, can I ask you something?”

Vanitas arches an eyebrow. “Aren’t you already?”

Ven sticks his tongue out at him. “Do you know what mistletoe is?”

Mistletoe? Vanitas frowns. “No,” he says slowly. “I don’t. Why?”

The innocent grin he gets only makes something nervous crawl down his spine. He only keeps it from being an Unversed so Ventus doesn’t know. Ven shrugs. “Just wondering. We’ll hang some up in the doorways for protection. Since you like plants so much, I thought you might know it.” His grin is a smirk now and Vanitas’s is a scowl.

Sensing danger, Ventus darts for the closest doorway. Vanitas gives chase, calling his keyblade for show more than true threat. “I’ll bury you and you can see how much I like dirt too!”

Laughing, Ven runs down the hall, never getting _too_ far away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Wayfinders this time and I hope you enjoy a bit of the chaos!

“Terra, don’t cut the sugar in half!” Aqua reaches over and takes the measuring cup from him, playfully smacking at his hand. “It’ll taste awful if it’s not scaled properly.”

Terra’s nose wrinkles. “I’d argue that something so sweet is already a-.”

She shushes him with a finger to his lips. “Your opinion has been noted and…”

“Voted out!” Ven finishes from the island. He’s stirring another batch of batter in a bowl, slowly mixing the flour mixture into the rest. He pulls the spoon out, watching it drip back into the bowl. “Even _Vanitas_ likes sweet things, Terra.”

“No I don’t,” Vanitas answers automatically, busy with a rolling pin. Away from the other three, he has rolled out the dough they just pulled from the fridge into a near perfect square. He frowns at it, gives it a poke, and then sets the rolling pin aside. “Mix, Ventus.”

Ventus rolls his eyes at his friends. “I’m mixing, I’m mixing.”

Terra sighs, the lone sane taste-having man and goes back to measuring. Aqua crosses the kitchen to look at what Vanitas has prepared. It’s almost militant in the rolling. “You know,” she says slowly, watching his shoulders. “It doesn’t have to be just right. We’ll reroll it after we’ve cut out the first of the cookies.”

“This way is more efficient. I can see how much is left.” Vanitas looks up at her, face still so sharp in its angles. Aqua hums and then nods. He’s not _wrong_ and if the months since Ven and Sora brought him home have taught her anything, it’s that Vanitas is best left to explore things his own way unless it hurts him or others.

She reaches out and picks up one of the cookie cutters. Too quick for him to stop her, she presses it to the top corner of his dough until the reindeer is ready to be lifted free. Aqua smirks at him and holds the cookie cutter teasingly over the dough. “They’re my favorite,” she says.

Vanitas eyes the other cutters and then snatches one. It goes into the other upper corner, but as soon as he’s lifted it up, he presses it back down. He makes a line headed for her reindeer, trying to outnumber it with a mass of stars. Aqua quickly moves in, stamping more reindeer into the dough to fight the rising tide. They elbow each other and Vanitas dares to duck under her arm to stamp a star right in the center of her half, but they get halfway down and their numbers are almost even.

“Guys! What about the wreaths?” Terra leans over them with another cookie cutter and presses it into the dead center of the remaining dough. “There.”

“You forgot the best one actually? I’m decorating a million trees.” Ven presses in beside Vanitas to add his favorite to the dough. He puts it in a proper line at least, right under one of Vanitas’s stars.

Aqua laughs, at her friends, at the silliness of the fight, and at how red Vanitas is as Ventus reaches over his shoulder to do another. No doubt Vanitas is about to start shouting. She flicks a bit of flour at him and beats a strategic retreat. “You better have done the proper measurements, Terra. I’m going to check.”

“You can’t count the individual grains,” Terra protests. He stamps another wreath in, just as messily placed as the first. Ven is still cutting out trees under Vanitas’s stars, leaning on him more and more to reach further. As Terra put in his third wreath, placed not even close to the other two, Vanitas finally breaks.

“Give me that,” he snaps and grabs Terra’s wrist. “I’ll do your stupid cookies if you’re just going to act like an _animal._ ”

Ventus laughs loudly. “You’re messing up his order, Terra. How could you?”

Terra shrugs. “I was just cutting cookies?”

“Like a no-thumb having gorilla,” Vanitas says, trying to salvage Terra’s placements into some kind of lines. “What a waste!”

Now they’re all giggling, Terra trying to cover his with a cough. Vanitas ignores them, cutting cookies with a sharp smack for each one. Ventus leans closer to look and then puts a tree right in the middle. “Perfect!”

Vanitas jabs him in the side making Ventus wheeze for breath and with laughter.

“Alright,” Terra says, breaking in before it escalates. He scoops Vanitas up with one arm. “No more fighting.” Sometimes, it seems like Ven and Vanitas can’t help themselves, poking at each other’s sore spots just because they’re there. Ven goes tight-lipped when his friends press him on it. Vanitas just growls and disappears. Maybe it’s difficult to explain, but Terra tries to quell the worst of it.

He certainly shocked Vanitas this time. He’s frozen in place, staring at the floor. He starts to struggle a second later. “Put me down! I’m not some cat for you to pick up!”

“Are you sure?” Ventus asks. Vanitas flips him off.

Terra sighs at both of them. He sets Vanitas back on his feet and pats both of their heads. “No fighting, not in the kitchen. Ven, what happened to that batter?”

“Uh oh.” Ven looks over at the abandoned bowl. “Uhhh.”

“Argh! I can’t trust you with anything.” Vanitas darts over to check on it, he gives it a few stirs and then shakes his head. “You’re lucky this didn’t entirely separate or I’d shove you in the oven.”

“No bodies in the oven,” Aqua says.

Vanitas looks at her and then at Ventus. He smirks. “Except for the reindeer she made.”

“Ewww.” Ven sticks his tongue out. “You don’t have to say it like that!” Rather than engage Vanitas, he starts to put the cut cookies onto the trays. Terra waits to ferry them into the oven.

Aqua looks at the three of them and smiles. Not bad for their first try together.

* * *

Vanitas is still surprised to find places in the Land of Departure where he has confidence. The kitchen is one and even as Aqua shows him new recipes and Terra talks about flavors, he finds himself nodding along instead of getting frustrated at all these things that _normal_ people know. Cooking and baking have rules, but let him try things and it’s…it’s nice.

And despite Terra and Ventus’s best efforts, the cookies turn out pretty well. Vanitas watches closely as Terra pulls out the last tray full of peanut butter cookies; not a single one looks burned and he allows himself a prideful smile. This worked.

Terra sets the tray beside the cooling rack and Vanitas looks for Ventus. He has a bad habit of sneaking snacks before they’re ready and then sending sharp spikes of _hot_ to Vanitas. Ventus is nowhere near the freshest cookies thankfully. Instead, he and Aqua seem to have drug out more supplies. Vanitas moves closer to investigate and recognizes sprinkles and tubes of frosting.

He blinks and picks up a container of silver stars. They shift under his hands as he rolls the container over. (It’s not the same shape as the keys in the graveyard, the ones that made him want to tear his chest open because the feeling was a yawning cavern inside him.) Vanitas holds them up and shakes them. “Stars on stars?”

“You could _not_ put them on the stars,” Ventus answers, sticking his tongue out. “I’m going to use some on the trees and maybe the wreaths. We’ve got the baubles too, right?”

Aqua hums a ‘yes’ and points to a couple more containers. “We’ll need to buy more if we do this many cookies next year.”

“Of course we’re doing this many! We’ve got Sora, Kairi, Riku, Namine, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Isa-.” He’s counting on his fingers, quickly running out, but stops as Vanitas groans.

“We did all this work and you’re giving them all away? This selflessness borders on idiotic.” Vanitas scowls at his other half.

Ven shrugs. “It’s the season of giving…and we get to eat what we want first.” He grabs one, but Aqua stops him before it goes into his mouth. Ven smiles at her sheepishly. “Decorating first.” He sets it back down. He picks up a tube of green icing and goes to work on one of his trees. Vanitas watches, definitely not waiting for him to do it wrong so he can fix it.

The icing tries to come out in large spurts, but Ventus’s grip is precise and he spreads it evenly across the cookie. Nothing slides off the edges, Ventus staying carefully away from them. He sets the icing aside and takes a knife to finish it off neatly. He looks up, eyes a brighter green than the tree, and grins at Vanitas. “Impressed?”

Vanitas’s face feels hot, but he rolls his eyes and pretends it’s the oven. “Wow,” he says flatly. “You did one.”

“Then you do the next one!” Ventus gestures to the next cookie in line, a wreath waiting to be made green. Vanitas snatches up the icing and leans over it, eyeing the smaller margin for errors. There is no way he can mess it up now after a challenge has been declared. He glances up and Ventus is watching his hands and the cookie and not his face.

Looking back down, Vanitas gives the icing a squeeze, very careful. He knows how to crush things in his grip, how to put all the force in his body into a blow, but he’s learned a few things in these past months. Carefully, very carefully, he makes a circle of icing around the wreath. He holds the bag like it’s an Unversed he’s trying to keep a hold of without poofing it into smoke. The icing fights him much less than them.

Vanitas lays the bag aside and eyes the wiggling loop of icing. Ventus offers him a knife and Vanitas can’t help a smirk. He takes it and flips it over in his hand. “How things change, ey, Ventus?”

Ventus rolls his eyes. “It’s a butter knife; we have _keyblades_. I think I’d be safe either way.”

“I could stab you with a butter knife.”

“You could, but you wouldn’t.” Ventus leans his elbows on the counter. “And not just because we’re friends. It seems beneath you to go for a stab with something like that.”

The tips of his ears are burning now. Vanitas focuses his attention on the cookie, spreading the green out to cover the wreath. “I would have done anything,” he mutters.

Ventus’s ears are just as good as his and his voice just as quiet. “You showed up in my room to goad me and didn’t stab me then.”

_You weren’t strong enough yet._ Vanitas bites his tongue and lifts the knife. It’s not bad looking, but he could hardly fail in front of Ventus. He sets it down on a napkin and looks up at his other half. Ven grins at him. “Not bad.”

Vanitas scoffs and grabs the silver stars. “I bet the brats like mine better than yours.”

“When you don’t any taste for colors? No way!” Ven jerks into motion, grabbing supplies to try and get ahead of Vanitas. Vanitas lets him, dropping five, six silver stars around his wreath. They glitter under the kitchen lights and he sets it carefully aside. If he has to give them away, he’ll make them just right for whoever they go to.

_Placed in one of the silver bags Aqua brings out, Vanitas hides the wreath from the others. He saves it for a later he can’t define yet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, a late night in a candlelit hall.....


End file.
